Seven Random Things

Carol, over at May Dreams Gardens, has tagged anyone who reads her blog for posting Seven Random Things about themselves. Okay, I'll bite. Not that anyone is really interested in obscure facts about the female half of Our Little Acre, but here goes!

1. I have no middle name, just an initial, which doesn't stand for anything. My mom has one sister, and my dad is one of ten children. ALL of them are called by their middle name. Guess my parents took care of that little family tradition, eh?
   
   
2. I eat lima beans in a very strange way. I don't think I'm a particularly strange person, but after I tell you how I eat them, you're likely to think that I should reconsider my opinion of myself.
   
   First, I will only eat them if they're not overcooked and they must be slathered in butter, with lots of salt and a touch of pepper. Then, I put one in my mouth, bite the top end of the bean where it was connected to the plant and hold it in my front teeth and extract the bean from the casing. (Don't ask me exactly how I do this, because I doubt I could tell you.) I eat the bean, which I don't particularly care for, and then the casing, which I love. It's a texture thing.
   
   Someone once asked me how I came to eat beans this way and the best I can come up with is that I once ate a casing that had naturally come off during cooking and it appealed to me. And that's just one of my quirky eating habits...
   
   
3. I have AB+ blood. In the United States, only 3% of the population have this blood type. My parents both have it, too. Unfortunately, due to my ever-present anemia, they won't let me give blood. My dad gives it, as does my husband (O+).
   
   
4. I got married at 17. No, I didn't have to, I wanted to. And it was done with my parents' blessing, in fact, they had to sign their permission for me to legally do it. I have a late birthday (September) as far as the school year is concerned, so I started Kindergarten at age four, but turned five shortly thereafter. Then in first grade at semester break, I was accelerated into the second grade for the rest of the school year. The next year, I started third grade. This meant that I graduated from high school at age 16.
   
   I had finished my freshman year of college when I married Romie the following August 1st. It wasn't all that uncommon in the mid-1970s for people to get married shortly after high school graduation. And lest you think I was/am a brainiac or anything, let me assure you that I can be quite dumb as a box of rocks when it comes to some things. Everyone has their areas of expertise, don't they? ;-)
   
   
5. I've met President Clinton. Now that was truly a random event. Romie and I were on our way to Hot Springs, Arkansas in April 2005, to visit a girlfriend at her parents' house. We stopped in Little Rock to visit the Clinton Presidential Library there, and as we were getting in the car to leave, Romie noticed the Secret Service outside the building where we were parked (not the library). I went over and asked them what was going on (while Romie was shaking his head at my assertiveness) and they informed me that President Clinton was inside the building. Having never met a president before, I asked if we might go inside, to which they replied, "It's a public building."
   
   We went in, and after waiting a couple of hours, we did indeed get to meet the former president. While I'm not particularly a Clinton fan, it was a thrilling moment and when you are speaking with him, he has a way of making you feel like you're the only person in the room.
   
   As a bonus, we also met Ted Danson. He and his lovely wife Mary Steenburgen were there to meet with President Clinton and we were lucky enough to chat a bit with him prior to our meeting the president. What a charmer he was, as well.
   
   We'd been out doing some geocaching prior to our library visit, so we really weren't dressed appropriately for meeting and being photographed with such celebrities, but that's the way it goes.
   
   
6. I am generally right-handed, but I do some things left-handed, like bowl and clap (left hand on top of right). I can eat with either hand, but I am strictly a right-handed writer. I blame this ambidexterity on my father, who is left-handed, although he made me learn to throw a softball right-handed when I felt it natural to use my left hand. As a result, I was never a good thrower and was put at second base, since most times that only required throwing a short distance. In all, the fact that I was a good hitter is probably what kept me on the team.
   
   Oh, and I wear my watch on my right wrist. It just feels funny on the left one.
   
   
7. I used to play the harp. I say used to, because it's been several years since I've sat down and really played it. It's something I'd wanted to learn to do for a very long time and when I discovered that a harp instructor lived just eight miles from us, I seized the opportunity to learn.
   
   I took lessons for two years and enjoyed it, but it wasn't a particularly good time to devote my energies towards all the practice it required. The girls were teenagers and I was working three days a week. They were active in sports and I just didn't have the time and energy to keep up with it. I still have my harp though, and I might just have a go at it again someday.